Wes Streeting has acknowledged withdrawing winter fuel payments from pensioners “might be unpopular” following health service advice to keep home heated during this weekend’s cold snap,. The Health Secretary faced questions on Sunday about his advice to “turn the heating on”, after heavy overnight snowfall of up to 12cm in parts of the country.
Conservative Party chairman Nigel Huddleston described the advice Mr Streeting gave on Friday as “cruel”. The Government last year axed universal payments of up to £300 to help with pensioners’ heating bills, with the uplift now only available to claimants of certain benefits such as pension credit.
Asked whether his advice was “tactful”, Mr Streeting said: “It is part of the advice that the NHS is giving to people during this cold snap to make sure that people are doing whatever they can to keep warm, to make sure, as we’ve been doing in the run-up to this winter, that people get vaccinated and so on.
“But just coming back to this issue of winter fuel allowance, the Chancellor (Rachel Reeves) did protect winter fuel allowance for the poorest pensioners. “There is the warm homes discount (which) people should see if they’re eligible for. “So in terms of protecting the poorest pensioners this winter, the Government is taking action. Of course, that doesn’t mean that getting rid of the winter fuel allowance for others has been a popular decision.”.
